Fairy lights actually work pretty well and their wires aren't too stiff. You could also use EL wire or something like that.

The main problem with wiring is having the wires break from getting pulled or stretched, so make sure there isn't much tension and make sure stuff doesn't snag.

You can use (good) safety pins or something like a hand awl to attach your wires to your coat. You can even use zip-ties in a pinch. Just make sure there's enough slack that stretching or bending over doesn't break the wires, and also that they don't snag on anything.

"The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law." -- Christopher Hitchens

To hold the wire in place, you can also go to a craft store and pick up some inexpensive beads that have a center hole just big enough for your wire. Sew those onto the coat at whatever locations you want, either just to keep the wire from falling off or to create some interesting pattern. You can also adjust the slack in the wire.

The big box craft stores usually have enough of a variety that you can get beads that either blend in with the coat so you can't see them at all or are very visible and complementary to the coat. Then, simply run the wire through the beads in whatever configuration you want. If a string of El wire gets damaged, you can remove it and string another one through.

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"No problem is ever solved in the same consciousness that was used to create it." --Albert Einstein

All of my coats get a string of lights every year. Fairy lights with a flexible wire work better than the newer, copper-wire style lights. El-wire also works well.

I start by finding a place for the battery pack, usually in a secure pocket, then safety pin the part of the chain which has no lights to the lining (or cut a small hole in the coat and push the light chain through) so that the part of the chain that has lights starts on the outside of the coat, with the non-lit section hidden.

I then take the very end of the chain and pin it to the coat at the same spot on the opposite side. I then pull the chain out, and mark the center, and pin that point to the back center. From there, it is easy to pin the chain in any design you like, usually up the front, over the shoulders, down and up the back, over the other shoulder and down the other side of the front.

Once you are pleased with the design, get a needle and thread and do a simple stitch over the entire light chain, knotting it occasionally for strength. This does not have to be pretty or clean or tight. This is just to keep the chain on the coat. You can even make a stitch every inch or inch and a half. Just enough to keep it on for the year - you'll want to remove it if you wash your coats after the burn.

Make sure the battery compartment has enough line on it so you can pull it out and change the batteries when they die, but this is a really simple fix, and should take you no more than two hours per coat - just time to sit down and kinda watch a movie you've already seen while you stitch, or listen to a good podcast. If your fur is extra long, you can use a curved "fish hook" needle, but I use a normal large-ish straight needle for most of my projects.

Good luck - don't be intimidated. Literally, children can sew. So can you.

And the best thing about it is, you never have to sit in your tent while your friends are ready to leave, scrounging around for a damn el-wire to wrap around yourself and fidget with all night long.

an idea me an some freinds were talkign about were to use firber optics (as the tips glow) and have the whole outside of the coat be covered in that with only 5-6 diffrent lights that can slowly change colour. if anyone has done this or wants to do it pm me about how it turns out.